Initiating Peer-to-Peer Tunnels

ABSTRACT

Client traffic normally passes from a client to an access node, and from the access node through a tunnel to a controller, and then through another tunnel from the controller to the destination access node, and the destination client. When initiated by the controller, the access nodes establish a peer-to-peer tunnel for suitable client traffic, bypassing the “slow” tunnels through the controller with a “fast” peer-to-peer tunnel. Traffic through this “fast” tunnel may be initiated once the tunnel is established, or traffic for the “fast” tunnel may be queued up until traffic has completed passing through the “slow” tunnel. Slow tunnel traffic may be timed out, and queued traffic released after a preset time since the last packet was sent through the slow tunnel. The identity of the last packet sent through the slow tunnel may be retained, and queued traffic released when an acknowledgement for that packet is received.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/433,610, entitled “Initiating Peer-to-Peer Tunnels” filed on Apr. 30, 2009. The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/429,981 titled “Peer-to-Peer Forwarding for Packet-Switched Traffic” filed Apr. 24, 2009. The aforementioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to digital networks, and in particular, to the problem of initiating traffic in peer-to-peer tunnels in switched digital systems.

Modern digital networks operating under IEEE 803.2 and 802.11 standards are called upon to support a wide range of wired and wireless clients.

Traffic between clients in a mobility domain typically passes from the originating client to an access node, and then from the access node to a controller through a tunnel. The traffic then passes through another tunnel from the controller to the destination access node, and to the destination client. Traffic passing through the controller may be subject to firewalling, deep packet inspection, authentication, and similar processes.

These processes, and the trip from one access node to another through the controller take time, particularly when the controller and the access nodes may not reside in the same building, or even the same general locale. Properly authenticated traffic may be eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding. In peer-to-peer forwarding, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/429,981 titled “Peer-to-Peer Forwarding for Packet-Switched Traffic” filed Apr. 24, 2009, and incorporated by reference herein, a tunnel is established between the two access nodes, and traffic sent through this peer-to-peer tunnel.

Visualizing the peer-to-peer tunnel as a short, fast pipe, and the controller-terminated tunnels as a long, slow pipe, the transition of traffic from the slow pipe to the fast pipe may result in issues such as out-of-order arrival of packets, with fast pipe packets arriving at the destination before packets already in the slow pipe. While some applications may not be affected by such out-of-order arrival, other applications such as multimedia are affected, resulting in, for example, stuttered or dropped audio and/or video.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be best understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the invention in which:

FIG. 1 shows a network,

FIG. 2 shows details of network devices,

FIG. 3 shows tunnels in a network,

FIG. 4 shows an additional network, and

FIG. 5 shows queued startup in a network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention relate to methods of initiating tunneling traffic in a digital network. A digital network has one or more central controllers to which a plurality of access nodes are connected. Each access node provides a combination of wireless and/or wired access to resources available through the central controller. The access nodes may be directly connected to the controller, or they may connect to the controller through routed networks such as a corporate Intranet, wider Internet, through private networks such as VPNs, or through a combination of wired and wireless backhaul.

In operation, the access nodes establish communications with the controller using tunnels. An example of a tunnel is a GRE tunnel. Traffic to and from clients connected to an access node is routed through the tunnel and through the central controller to which the access node is connected.

A mobility controller process runs in the controller, monitoring traffic to and from clients. The set of access nodes known to the controller and other associated controllers is defined as the mobility domain. When the mobility controller recognizes that traffic is being sent from a first client in the mobility domain to a second client in the mobility domain, the mobility controller evaluates whether the traffic is eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding. If the traffic is eligible for per-to-peer forwarding, the mobility manager instructs the access node to which the first client is connected to establish a peer-to-peer tunnel to the access node to which the second client is connected, and to direct the traffic through the peer-to-peer tunnel.

In accordance with the invention, traffic through the peer-to-peer tunnel may begin flowing as soon as the peer-to-peer (“fast”) tunnel is established, or traffic in one or both directions through the tunnel may be queued until traffic flowing through the controller-terminated (“slow”) tunnels has completed.

Completion of slow traffic through the controller-terminated tunnels may be sensed in a number of ways. Slow tunnel traffic may be timed out, and queued traffic released after a preset time since the last packet was sent through the slow tunnel. The identity of the last packet sent through the slow tunnel may be retained, and queued traffic released when an acknowledgement for that packet is received. A special packet may be sent through the slow tunnel and queued traffic released when an acknowledgement for that packet is received.

FIG. 1 shows a digital network. Router 100 connects to a network, not shown. Router 100 also provides services to controller 200. Controller 200 has a plurality of ports, 230 a, 230 b for supporting devices such as access nodes 400 a, 400 b, 400 c, 400 d.

As shown in FIG. 1, these ports 120 a, 120 b connect through switched network 290 to routers 300 a and 300 b.

Access nodes 400 a, 400 b, 400 c, 400 d provide wireless and possibly wired services to clients. As shown in FIG. 1, wireless client 500 a is connected to access node 400 a. Access node 400 b supports wireless client 500 b and wired client 510 b. Access node supports wireless client 500 c.

As shown in FIG. 2, controllers 200 are a purpose-built digital devices having a CPU 210, memory hierarchy 220, and a plurality of network interfaces 230. CPU 210 may be a MIPS-class processor from companies such as Raza Microelectronics or Cavium Networks, although CPUs from companies such as Intel, AMD, IBM, Freescale, or the like may also be used. Memory hierarchy 220 includes read-only memory for device startup and initialization, high-speed read-write memory such as DRAM for containing programs and data during operation, and bulk memory such as hard disk or compact flash for permanent file storage of programs and data. Network interfaces 230 are typically IEEE 802.3 Ethernet interfaces to copper, although high-speed optical fiber interfaces may also be used. Controller 200 typically operates under the control of purpose-built embedded software, typically running under a Linux operating system, or an operating system for embedded devices such as VXWorks. Controller 200 may have dedicated hardware for encryption, and/or for routing packets between network interfaces 230.

Similarly, as understood by the art, access nodes 400 a, 400 b, 400 c and 400 d, are also purpose-built digital devices. These access nodes include CPU 410, memory hierarchy 420, wired interface 430, and wireless interface 440. As with controller 200, the CPU commonly used for such access nodes is a MIPS-class CPU such as one from Raza Microelectronics or Cavium Networks, although processors from other vendors such as Intel, AMD, Freescale, and IBM may be used. The memory hierarchy comprises read-only storage for device startup and initialization, fast read-write storage such as DRAM for holding operating programs and data, and permanent bulk file storage such as compact flash. Wireless access nodes 300 typically operate under control of purpose-built programs running on an embedded operating system such as Linux or VXWorks. Wireless interface 340 is typically an interface operating to the family of IEEE 802.11 standards including but not limited to 802.11a, b, g, and/or n. Multiple wired interfaces 430 may be provided, with one wired interface 430 a being used to connect the access node to its controller, and the other wired interfaces 430 b used to host wired devices as clients. While wired interfaces such as 802.3 Ethernet may be used, USB may also be used to support printers, mass storage devices, and wireless back-haul links such as 3G or WiMAX modems.

While FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a wired backhaul connecting access nodes 400 to controller 200, a combination of wired and wireless backhauls may also be used, for example, using WiMAX, 3G, or other high-speed wireless connections. While a wired connection to a modem such as an ADSL modem or a cable modem may be used, such a modem may also be built into access node 400.

Routers 300 are also purpose-built digital devices, and similar to controller 200, they contain a CPU, memory hierarchy, and a plurality of interfaces. Routers typically run dedicated software devoted to the tasks required. Routers are commercially available from a number of companies such as Cisco-Linksys, Hewlett Packard, D-Link, and others.

Wireless clients 500 are also digital devices, similarly having CPU 510, memory hierarchy 520, wireless interface 530, and I/O devices 540. As examples, wireless device 500 may be a general purpose computer such as a laptop, or may be a purpose-built device such as a Wi-Fi phone or a handheld scanner. In a general-purpose computer, CPU 510 may be a processor from companies such as Intel, AMD, Freescale, or the like. In the case of purpose-built devices, Acorn or MIPS class processors may be preferred. Memory hierarchy 520 comprises the similar set of read-only memory for device startup and initialization, fast read-write memory for device operation and holding programs and data during execution, and permanent bulk file storage using devices such as flash, compact flash, and/or hard disks. Additional I/O devices 540 may be present, such as keyboards, displays, speakers, barcode scanners, and the like.

In operation and as shown in FIG. 3, access nodes 400 a, 400 b, 400 c, 400 d establish communications with controller 200, in the case of FIG. 3, through routers 300 and switched network 200. As shown for access nodes 400 a and 400 b, tunnels 600 a, 600 b such as GRE tunnels are established between the access node and controller 200. Such tunnels 600 a, 600 b may be established on a per-access node basis, or on a per network basis, with one tunnel established for each advertised wireless network (BSSD) or one tunnel established for each wired port on an access node.

Assume wireless client 500 a is connected to access node 400 a, and client 500 b is connected to access node 400 b. When client 500 a establishes a connection to client 500 b, traffic from client 500 a passes through access node 400 a, tunnel 600 a, to controller 200. Controller 200 identifies the traffic destination as client 500 b, and sends the traffic though tunnel 600 b to access node 400 b and client 500 b.

This routing is performed by controller 200 using the IP addresses of clients 500 a and 500 b, as well as the MAC (media access controller) addresses of clients 500 a, 500 b and access nodes 400 a and 400 b. When client 500 a wishes to send data to client 500 b, it in essence forms an IP packet with client 500 b's IP address as the destination, and with client 500 a's IP address and MAC address as the source. This information is encapsulated and sent to controller 200.

Controller 200 keeps tables of all access nodes it controls, and all clients associated with those nodes, including IP and MAC addresses. In this way, when it examines the packet from client 500 a, it can determine that client 500 b, the destination, is connected to access node 400 b, and direct the traffic through tunnel 600 b to that access point, and the destination device.

Even if clients 500 a and 500 b are sitting in the same office suite, ten meters apart, traffic between them is routed through controller 200.

Mobility manager 280 is a process running in controller 200. By accessing controller 200's tables of access nodes and their clients, mobility manager 280 can detect when a client is exchanging data with another client in its mobility domain.

As shown in FIG. 4, when mobility manager 280 detects that client 500 a is communicating with client 500 b, also in the mobility domain of controller 200, mobility manager 280 evaluates if this traffic is eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding. If the traffic is eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding, mobility manager 280 instructs access node 400 a to establish peer-to-peer tunnel 610 between access node 400 a and access 400 b, and to route that traffic between clients 500 a and 500 b through tunnel 610 rather than through tunnel 600 a. While the peer-to-peer tunnel is being established, traffic between clients flows through the controller. In this manner traffic between clients 500 a and 500 b rather than traveling through tunnels 600 a and 600 b and controller 200, instead travels through tunnel 610 once the tunnel is established.

A peer-to-peer tunnel may be established any time mobility manager 280 detects connections and data exchanges between clients in its mobility domain. Or, peer-to-peer tunnels may be evaluated and only established on an authenticated basis according to pre-established rules. Peer-to-peer tunnels may be limited by client identity, including but not limited to client IP address, client MAC address, client authentication, and the like, destination identity, port, traffic type, and so on. As an example, assume a high-speed printer is connected as a client to access node 400 a. Appropriate rules for the establishment of peer-to-peer tunnels for a printer would be limited to ports and protocols needed for printer use for local authorized users, with no access allowed for guests. Similarly, traffic to e-mail servers would not be eligible for peer-to-per forwarding, so that such traffic would always pass through controller 280 and be subject to firewalling, virus detection, deep packet inspection, and the like. As another example, network time protocol traffic on port 123 would be eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding to reduce transit delays for time data.

It should be understood that which end of the traffic causes the tunnel to be established is immaterial. As an example, consider a user sending queries to a remote database server. It does not matter if the traffic triggering the formation of a peer-to-peer tunnel is the transmission of a query from the client to the database server, or the transmission of the query result from the database server to the client.

Peer-to-peer tunnels may be established on a session basis, or may be aged. As an example, for a device such as a high-speed printer, a peer-to-peer tunnel with a timeout of thirty seconds may be appropriate; if no activity passes through the tunnel for that predetermined period of time, the tunnel is discontinued. If bursts of traffic between two clients exceed the time-out period, the peer-to-peer tunnel will be discontinued, but the next traffic between the clients, which will once more be routed through controller 200, causes the peer-to-peer tunnel to be re-established.

Assume as an example file/database server 510 b is connected via a wired connection to access node 400 b. Peer-to-peer tunnels may be permitted for authorized users of the database for the specific protocols and ports used for database access, with all other traffic routed through controller 200 for filtering, firewalling, and authentication. As an example, while database traffic using port 3306 between server 510 b and client 500 a may be routed through a peer-to-peer tunnel 610, traffic on port 80 between client 500 a and server 510 b is still routed initially through controller 200.

When multiple controllers 200 are present within a mobility domain, mobility managers 280 operating in each controller may cooperate in supporting peer-to-peer tunneling within the mobility domain. In one embodiment, a mobility manager 280 broadcasts updates of connected clients to other mobility managers in the mobility domain. These updates may be made on a periodic basis, may be event-driven, such as on client connection or disconnection, or on a combination. By providing the ability for a mobility manager to identify clients attached to a different controller that are still within the mobility domain, peer-to-peer forwarding may be extended to cross controller boundaries.

In another embodiment involving multiple controllers, mobility managers 280 may send queries to other mobility managers within the domain to inquire if a destination is a client of another mobility manager within the mobility domain. It may be useful in some embodiments to apply additional authentication when controller boundaries are crossed. As an example, consider an enterprise network spread over many locations, perhaps over many time zones. While establishing a peer-to-peer tunnel between a streaming media device such as a security webcam and a monitoring station offloads that streaming traffic from passing through the controller, other policies may wish to restrict access to such cameras to only users connected to the controller at the particular site, not allowing access across controller boundaries, or only allowing access across controller boundaries to certain classes of users.

Assume for example that client 500 a of FIG. 4 is receiving a video stream from a wireless camera 500 b. Initially this traffic will be routed through controller 200 via tunnels 600 b and 600 a. Assuming this traffic is eligible for per-to-peer forwarding, tunnel 610 is established for this traffic between wireless camera 500 b and client 500 a.

Visualizing tunnels 600 b and 600 a as a slow pipe, and tunnel 610 as a fast pipe, fast pipe traffic from camera 500 b could arrive at destination 500 a while a large number of packets from camera 500 b are still in the slow pipe. These packets from the slow pipe will continue to arrive at destination 500 a, even though subsequent packets have already arrived. Many video clients respond to this out-of-order arrival by dropping the old, out-of-order packets, which can result in stuttered or jittery images.

For other types of traffic, for example the retrieval of large amounts of data from a database, out-of-order delivery may not be an issue.

According to the invention, peer-to-peer tunnel traffic may begin as soon as the tunnel is established, or traffic for the peer-to-peer tunnel may be queued until traffic has completed flowing through the controller-terminated “slow” tunnel. This queue and release model may be applied bidirectionally or unidirectionally.

As shown in FIG. 5, if queuing is indicated, packets for the peer-to-peer tunnel are placed 460 in a queue 450 in the access node. This queue is released, and packets sent 470 through the peer-to-peer tunnel in a first-in-first-out fashion once traffic through the slow tunnel, in this example 600 b and 600 a, has completed.

According to the invention there are a number of ways to determine that all traffic sent through the slow tunnel (tunnels 600 b 600 a) has arrived.

A special packet may be sent through the slow tunnel; the queue is release when an ACK is received from the destination, indicating the special packet has arrived.

The identification of the last packet sent through the slow tunnel may be kept, and the queue released when an ACK is received from the destination indicating that this packet has arrived.

A timer may be used, releasing the queue after a predetermined amount of time since the last packet was sent through the slow tunnel has elapsed. The value of this timer may be set by controller 200, or it may be set by the access node. As an example, the access node may track the time the last packet was sent, and the time between sending a packet through the slow tunnel and the arrival of an ACK from the destination, and use a value based on such transit times.

A combination of these approaches may also be used. The timer approach provides a useful backup mechanism in the event a marked packet is lost in transit.

It should be noted that low-level responses such as ACKs are not queued, and once the peer-to-peer tunnel is established, these packets may be sent through the peer-to-peer tunnel, even if queueing is in effect.

Such queueing may be bidirectional, or unidirectional. In the case of a client receiving a video stream from a monitoring camera, an essentially one-way flow of data, a unidirectional approach is adequate. In the case of a video or audio conferencing connection, for example, with audio and possibly video streams in both directions, bidirectional queuing is appropriate.

While the invention has been described in terms of various embodiments, the invention should not be limited to only those embodiments described, but can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is this to be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: forwarding, at a network device, traffic from a first client to a second client; determining, by the network device, both that the first client and the second client are in same mobility domain and that the traffic is eligible for being transmitted in a tunnel; notifying, by the network device, a first network node and a second network node to establish the tunnel between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the first network node is coupled to the first client, and wherein the second network node is coupled to the second client; and transmitting, by the network device, the traffic from the first client to the second client until the tunnel between the first network node and the second network node is established.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first client and the second client are in the same mobility domain comprises inquiring a third network node whether the first or second client is associated with the same mobility domain.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the traffic is eligible for being transmitted in the tunnel comprises determining that the traffic from the first client to the second client has been authorized.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that the traffic has been authorized comprises determining that the traffic is associated with a specific network protocol or a specific network port.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the traffic is eligible for being transmitted in the tunnel comprises determining that the traffic is associated with a specific type.
 6. A method comprising: receiving, at a network device, a notification for establishing a first tunnel with another network node; establishing, by the network device, the first tunnel with the other network node; identifying, by the network device, the traffic from a first client to a second client; and forwarding, by the network device, the identified traffic through the established first tunnel.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: buffering, by the network device, the identified traffic from the first client to the second client.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: determining, by the network device, when transmission of the traffic destined for the second client through a second tunnel has completed.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: signaling, by the network device, to the network node that the transmission of the traffic destined for the second client through the second tunnel has completed.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining when transmission of the traffic has completed further comprises determining when a predetermined time period has elapsed.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining when transmission of the traffic has completed further comprises receiving a signal indicating that a previously marked packet to the second client has been received.
 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: releasing, by the network device, the buffered traffic to the second client through the established first tunnel.
 13. A network device comprising: a processor; a memory; a forwarding mechanism coupled to the processor, the forwarding mechanism to forward traffic from a first client to a second client; a determining mechanism coupled to the processor, the determining mechanism to determine both that the first client and the second client are in same mobility domain and that the traffic is eligible for being transmitted in a tunnel; a notifying mechanism coupled to the processor, the notifying mechanism to notify a first network node and a second access node to establish the tunnel between the first access node and the second network node, wherein the first network node is coupled to the first client, and wherein the second network node is coupled to the second client; and a transmitting mechanism coupled to the processor, the transmitting mechanism to transmit the traffic from the first client to the second client until the tunnel between the first network node and the second network node is established.
 14. The network device of claim 13, wherein the determining mechanism inquires a third network node whether the first or second client is associated with the same mobility domain.
 15. The network device of claim 13, wherein the determining mechanism further determines that the traffic from the first client to the second client has been authorized.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining mechanism further determines that the traffic is associated with a specific network protocol or a specific network port.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining mechanism further determines that the traffic is associated with a specific type.
 18. A network device comprising: a processor; a memory; a receiving mechanism coupled to the processor, the receiving mechanism to receive a notification for establishing a first tunnel with another network node; an establishing mechanism coupled to the processor, the establishing mechanism to establish the first tunnel with the other network node; an identifying mechanism coupled to the processor, the identifying mechanism to identify the traffic from a first client to a second client; and a forwarding mechanism coupled to the processor, the forwarding mechanism to forward the identified traffic through the established first tunnel.
 19. The network device of claim 18, further comprising: a buffering mechanism coupled to the processor, the buffering mechanism to buffer the identified traffic from the first client to the second client.
 20. The network device of claim 19, further comprising: a determining mechanism coupled to the processor, the determining mechanism to determine when transmission of the traffic destined for the second client through a second tunnel has completed.
 21. The network device of claim 20, further comprising: a signaling mechanism coupled to the processor, the signaling mechanism to signal the network node that the transmission of the traffic destined for the second client through the second tunnel has completed.
 22. The network device of claim 20, wherein the determining mechanism further determines when a predetermined time period has elapsed.
 23. The network device of claim 20, wherein the determining mechanism determines when transmission of the traffic has completed in response to the receiving mechanism receiving a signal indicating that a previously marked packet to the second client.
 24. The network device of claim 21, further comprising: a releasing mechanism coupled to the processor, the releasing mechanism to release the buffered traffic to the second client through the established first tunnel. 